United face the Latics at the DW Stadium this weekend and McArdle is wary of the attacking abilities in their squad.

Speaking to iFollow Iron, the central defender previewed the match, while offering his thoughts on the recent form.

ON LAST SATURDAY’S GAME AGAINST OLDHAM…RM: Whenever we lose a game of football, it is frustrating. It is just important that everybody doesn’t dwell on it and has a positive mindset. They have still got to be bright and bubbly, and if there is any frustration in the lads, then they can take it out in the performance on Saturday.

ON HIS ROLE AS CAPTAIN…RM: We have got to keep things going as they are. I don’t want lads to come in and sit there and be quiet, if usually they are the sort of lad that is bubbly, loud and energetic. It is important that everyone is still bubbly, everyone is still having their same conversations and doing the same things. It is about making sure that people have not got that negative mindset.

ON TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE WEEK…RM: It has been fine, as it always is. You can never question how the lads have trained and how they are in and around the football club. The spirit is always there, which is massive, especially when you are on a bit of a tricky spell. From that point of view, we have got to keep going. Nothing has changed from our training throughout the week from how it was at the beginning of the season, when performances and results were positive then. We know what we need to do and everyone has experienced that. We want to keep replicating it and hopefully it will be enough to get us back to where we want to be.

ON SECURING A SPOT IN THE PLAY-OFFS…RM: Since the start of the season, we have been pretty much in the play-offs all season. I think last year the club were predominantly in the play-offs, if not the top two. The lads have experience and they know what needs to be asked of them in order to stay in the top six. Everyone knows what they have got to do, it is just the case of implementing it.

ON LOOKING TO GET A RUN OF GOOD RESULTS TOGETHER…RM: Whenever we have had blips in the season, we have bounced back quickly. At the minute, we are drawing games, where maybe we should be taking more from those matches. That might be the little difference at the minute. If we get a positive result where we get the clean sheet and score the goals, then all of a sudden, it is back to normal as such. That can just kickstart everyone again.

ON THE AWAY MATCH AT WIGAN…RM: It is going to be a difficult game and they are going to try and dominate the ball, as they have tried to do throughout the majority of the season. They have got individual quality, but collectively they have show they can stick together and grit it out. We know it is going to be a tough game, but equally we have got enough quality in our dressing room to cause them problems. It is a game everyone is relishing.

ON DEALING WITH WIGAN’S ATTACKING QUALITY…RM: We know we have to be on top of our game and concentration levels will probably have to be that little bit higher, making sure that everything is organised. Everybody will be looking at it as a challenge, and one that everyone will hopefully rise to.

ON FACING TWO SIDES IN THE TOP THREE BACK-TO-BACK…RM: We have got to play against whoever is at the top at some point during the season. We know that if we do get results out of those games, it puts us closer to where we want to be, taking points off the teams closer around us. If kickstarts that run again, there is no better time to start that.

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